news Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has promised that her Labor State Government will commit $5.7 million to deliver some 5,000 iPads to year 7 students across the state in a high-profile educational trial of the Apple tablets, should Labor retain power in the upcoming state election.

In a policy statement issued this afternoon (PDF) outlining the election pledge, Bligh’s Labor camp said the trial would be undertaken in 20 schools across the state and would be funded by the Queensland Education Trust, a fund being set up by the Government to funnel mining royalties into future development of the state.

Under the trial, up to 5,065 year 7 students will receive an iPad 2 (32GB Wi-Fi model) free. The students will be those attending one of 20 schools around the state which have been labelled ‘Flying Start’ schools due to their participation in that separate government program aimed at boosting educational outcomes. Following completion of the pilot, Labor would then evaluate the educational success of the initiative, with a view to providing iPads to more Queensland school students.

“These Year 7 students will be in their first year of junior secondary school, and we want to support their transition with cutting edge technology to support the new learning environment,” the statement reads. The use of tablet devices is skyrocketing, with 330 per cent growth in the last 12 months. It is estimated that more than 11 million Australians – approximately half the population – will be using a tablet device by 2016, and the Apple iPad is the clear market leader with 76 per cent of tablet sales last year.”

“iPad and equivalent tablet devices offer benefits over traditional laptops or netbooks for the classroom environment, including long battery life, improved interactivity, and higher screen qualities. This will help give students a flying start to their secondary education.”

A re-elected Bligh Government would put the iPad rollout out to tender within the first 100 days of its new term, using the process to ensure “maximum value for money”. The program will see the iPads come with an AppleCare protection plan (or equivalent), charging docks, “secure storage” and a device management solution.

In the statement, Bligh said education was constantly evolving and technology was constantly advancing, leading to a situation where information technology had “a huge role” to play in education. “We can do more than we ever imagined with technology in the classroom today,” the Premier said. “In order to realise the full potential of digital education, teachers, principals and students need up to date technology like laptops and new tablet devices.”

This, Bligh said, was why Labor had delivered laptops for school teachers through its Computers for Teachers program, which had seen the number of laptops for teachers in the state grow from around 1,500 to around 41,000. The state’s efforts in coalition with the Labor Federal Government had also seen the total numbers of computers in schools boosted to more than 280,000.

The iPad trial, Bligh said, would see Queensland schools keep pace with today’s technology and ensure schools got the technical support they needed to get the most out of technology in the classroom.

It may not be the first time which Education Queensland has trialled the iPad in classrooms. In September 2010, months after the iPad was first launched in Australia, the department said it was trialling “handheld computers”, although it did not confirm at that stage whether its trial involved iPads.

At the time, the Queensland Government confirmed that a dozen “small” schools are involved in a trial where “handheld” computers – and other devices such as computers, data loggers, MP3 recorders and USB microscopes — were used as education tools to compliment and enhance science classes. In addition, an unconfirmed number of secondary and primary schools were trialling the handheld devices in other fields literacy, maths, reading, writing, English as a second language and special needs classes.

“Handheld computers in schools are being used for individual and small group activities where students interact with educational apps,” David O’Hagan, Assistant Director-General Information and Technologies for the state’s Department of Education and Training. “The devices are small and portable which makes them easy to use for educational activities that take place outside the classroom and on field trips.”

It’s also not the first time a state in Australia has kicked off a major trial of the technology. In May 2010, Victorian Premier John Brumby announced the state would buy more than 500 of Apple’s iPad devices, to be distributed to eight schools in the state in a trial of the technology. That trial is believed to be ongoing.

The news also comes as Apple has recently launched a strong push into the education sector globally, releasing new educational textbooks through its iBookstore last month as well as the software needed to create them. Most of the titles are not available in Australia, however, although some were in late January.

opinion/analysis
iPads make for a great election promise. They’re a visible sign of new technology entering the education system, they cost a decent amount but not too much (so they’re perfect for small trials) and best of all, they’re sexy, with that patented Apple reality distortion field hovering around them waiting to suck up votes from happy parents. Of course, the iPad election promise didn’t work out too well for the last state premier who tried it (Brumby in Victoria), and we doubt it’ll save Bligh’s bacon ;)

However, as education technologists globally have lamented for decades now, it’s not enough to just throw technology into schools without supporting infrastructure. For example; do all of Queensland’s schools have Wi-Fi infrastructure to support the iPads? How will that infrastructure handle the load? Are the necessary textbooks for year 7 available on iPad? How will the management software function? How will it differentiate between apps purchased personally by students, and those purchased by the education department? And so on.

All of the issues of corporate tablet manageability apply to this iPad rollout, and Bligh hasn’t addressed any of them in this policy document. To be honest, I doubt her team really understands the issues to start with.

Image credit: cjc0327, Creative Commons

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news Some of the youngest of Western Australia’s nearly 262,000 students enrolled in 770 public schools will now use the latest in Apple tablet technology to learn about alphabets and numbers.

Premier Colin Barnett and Education Minister Elizabeth Constable made an announcement this week, stating that Year 1 and 2 students in 17 schools would participate in the Early Childhood iPad Initiative to develop their numeracy and literacy skills. They will be guided by two mentor schools that have already experienced this new form of education during a pilot project. Nine hundred iPads would be made available to the schools.

Barnett said Western Australia’s performance in the recently held National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests had earned the state additional funding for educational programs. The $1 million program is aimed at making learning more interesting by bringing mathematics and reading to life and helping children engage in their education more fully.

“Our new on-entry assessments of pre-primary students give teachers vital information about the skills our youngest students possess as they enter school, and we are delivering the tools teachers need to best connect with young students” said Barnett.

According to Constable, teachers piloting the program last year had found students responded very well to using iPad apps to develop their reading and maths skills “Students are very confident with the technology generally, and are excited to use iPads. This can only be good for their education” she said. Teachers across the state are already using electronic whiteboards in the classroom. “This technology is reinvigorating learning and iPads will similarly have an impact in the classroom” Constable said.

Schools and universities in Western Australia have been independently testing iPads and tablet devices in various educational programs for over a year. In September 2010, the chief information officer of the Department of Education and Training, Bevan Doyle had said, “The department does not have a policy on the use of iPads or Android-based technology at this stage; however some schools have bought tablet devices to trial in various settings.” He also stated that if educational institutions showed an interest in a ‘central buying arrangement for iPads’, official movements such as seeking optimal pricing would be made.

The WA department ensures that public schools receive technology funding to maintain a student-to-computer ratio of 1:5 for secondary schools and 1:10 for primary schools. “Schools are able to use the remaining funds for other technologies including iPads, and of course schools can supplement the funding from other sources” said Doyle.

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opinion In Australian society, so much of the ongoing narrative about the current generation of students in our schools is focused around the different way that they understand and use technology; and so much of that narrative is focused around fear.

Every second week a story pops up about a new way which technology can harm children. One week it’s cyber-bullying, with dramatic pictures being painted of abusive schoolyard bullies using blogs to hound fellow students into depression. Next it’s children inadvertently stumbling across Internet pornography, or using Facebook to harass teachers, spreading false rumours about them which could cost them their employment. And of course, there’s the ever-present threat of ‘sexting’.

Even the mundane can be troubling. Students, we’re told, no longer sit quietly in classrooms learning and working with their peers as older generations used to, faithfully solving problems from textbooks and respectfully listening to their teachers. Instead, the demon lure of technology seduces them away from their studies; distracting them with a constant series of text messages from their friends, pop-up instant message windows, YouTube videos and Facebook. School assignments are plagiarised from Wikipedia or outsourced to India. Teachers falsely believe they are in control of a class, when there’s actually a secret undercurrent of dissent undercutting their every attempt to impose discipline.

Underlying all of this constant hyperbole and outrage is a concept which has long found favour in anthropology, political science and even psychology: The idea of ‘the Other’ — a grouping of people or concepts which are alien to ourselves, and by extension, which help us define the limits of what we classify as “us”, or “we”.

Young people these days aren’t like us, is the dominant message. They’re different. They don’t obey. They can’t be controlled. They just want to muck around. They don’t want to learn. They’re into drugs, sex and dangerous music because they’re exposed to it too early via the Internet. They won’t make good workers when they finish school. They won’t get jobs. They’ll drop out and have teenage pregnancies. They’ll get into gangs. Generation Y, video games, Nintendo, social media, society will collapse and it’s all technology’s fault!

As a narrative, this idea of a ‘different’ generation of students passing through Australian schools armed with technology is a powerful one.

It allows the ‘adults’ of older generations such as politicians, social commentators, businesspeople and often even parents to easily apply what is perceived as a blanket trend to the next generation of young people. A thousand marketing articles are published discussing the different ways in which today’s young people can be better targeted through ‘social media’. Politicians call for Facebook to be banned or brought under control, religious groups attempt to have violent computer games banned and bureaucrats bulk issue laptops to school students in an attempt to address the needs of ‘digital natives’.

And it allows adults to more strongly reinforce their own identity construction — telling themselves they were part of a better, simpler time, when life wasn’t so complex and difficult to understand, with so many competing technological demands. A rose-tinged view of the past which aids in framing (or, perhaps more accurately, mis-framing) the policies of the future.

But, as with so many uses of the ‘Other’ in societal discourse (think of how Australian politicians regularly characterise refugees seeking to reach our shores, for example, or the historical injustices perpetrated on indigenous Australians), this one-sided narrative often obscures the real truth about what’s really going on inside our education system right now, and with young Australians in general.

Perhaps the deepest thinking I’ve witnessed recently about the actual complexities of what’s going on in schools has come from a one hour documentary produced by Queensland-based ICT analyst house Longhaus. It’s available online — and there’s a trailer below:

Longhaus’ documentary, entitled The Connected Generation, does begin by raising all of the same fears and stereotypes that the Australian media loves to perpetuate about technology in schools and the changing nature of today’s youth. After 20 minutes of watching it, you’re gasping for air and asking yourself how society will cope with this radically different generation. In the first part of the documentary, students are strongly characterised as ‘other’ than the viewer — different, alien, constantly having hidden conversations which ‘normal’ adults can’t penetrate. Chilling classical music plays in the background and it seems as if the doom of Australia’s education system is nigh.

However, at about a third of the way through the documentary, it takes a radical shift towards a more meaningful discussion.

At that stage, insightful, modern teachers enter the discussion to highlight how classrooms, educators, schools and even the nature of education itself are gradually shifting along with the technology and the students. Students admit they don’t know where things are going, and highlight the ongoing need for structure, guidance and the importance of schools as a focus for learning. Educators stress the ongoing and enduring fundamental nature of deep student and teacher relationships — despite the fact that on the face of it these relationships may be changing in some ways — moving online and moving outside hours through social media.

Supportive teachers who integrate technology into the learning process and are aware of the constantly shifting dynamics of students’ digital lives. Principals who are evolving their schools to become more flexible, more interactive and more student-focused. Departmental bureaucrats who are evolving curriculums to become more relevant in an age where legacy subject matter is quickly proven out of date by Google. Parents who are not isolated from their children’s lives, despite the fact that education and adoption of technology differs between generations.

What Longhaus paints is a picture of a more multi-faceted educational environment: Where technology is not only a threatening force for social disruption, but also an opportunity to free everyone in the process from unnecessary strictures; not only a tool employed by students but also one taken advantage of by teachers; not solely a factor which might impact on skillsets in demand by workforces but a factor which might create new ones.

In one memorable moment, several students laugh as they dream of an educational future with “no more textbooks, no more school uniforms and no more teachers”. “We might even have no teachers at all,” speculates another. “We might just have robots as our teachers.”

“I think students would like to think that teachers maybe won’t be needed any more in the classroom of the future, that we’ll all be online and we’ll be talking to robots,” chuckles a teacher shortly after in the documentary. “But I think what needs to happen is that step back from technology, and just remember it’s about education and that really can only come from collaborative learning, from meaningful learning activities and from social interaction.”

It’s this more complex future that I’d like to see discussed more when we think about technology in education — a meme which is only going to grow. Moving away from the binary idea of bulk-ordering laptops or even tablets for schools and focusing specifically on how those devices could be used to enhance educational outcomes. Moving away from the idea of banning bits of the Internet in schools and towards the idea of incentivising students through social media and video game theory to visit and use useful Internet sites. Moving away from the idea that ubiquitous mobile phone ownership by students is a threat to classroom discipline, and towards ideas about how it could be used to enhance collaboration between students.

It’s only when society at large starts to look at technology in education in this light — which, I think, many students and teachers in Australia’s education system already are — that we’ll get past this fear, uncertainty and doubt surrounding how young Australians use technology differently and begin to realise that using technology in education isn’t what you are; it’s what you do, and that our young people aren’t somehow fundamentally different from us; they just got access to better tools at a younger age.

For many of us who are older, it’s about time we caught up with them.

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news Apple appears to have broadly limited access to the range of new educational textbooks announced through its iBookstore overnight to students in the US, locking Australians and those in other countries out of accessing most of the new content from publishers such as McGraw-Hill and Pearson. However, although a small amount of titles appear to have begun to filter into the Australian iBookstore this afternoon.

Overnight in the US, the company announced the second version of its iBooks application for iOS devices, stating that the new software would enable the delivery of “an entirely new kind of textbook” that would be “dynamic, engaging and truly interactive”. With the aim of replacing weighty and expensive school textbooks with electronic version typically costing less than US$14.99, the company has partnered with existing educational publishers such as McGraw-Hill and Pearson to offer textbooks in a range of areas, including algebra, biology, chemistry, geometry and physics. The company plans to offer textbooks from publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt “soon”.

However, buried in the company’s information statement regarding the iBooks 2 update is a notice stating that the new textbooks would be “currently available to customers in the United States” — but not elsewhere.

Early searches of the iBookstore this afternoon through the new version of iBooks installed on an iPad in Australia revealed there are virtually no textbooks available for purchase through the store to Australians. A search for “maths textbook”, for example, returned no results, and the same for “biology textbook” and “chemistry textbook”. A direct search for “McGraw-Hill” revealed several educational books in niche areas. For example, one available title (price for free) was Alec Reed’s Capitalism is Dead: Peoplism Rules. Another was The Black Book of Clinical Examination by Tey Hong Liang, for $29.99.

Late this afternoon as this article was published, Apple does appear to have added some textbooks into the Australian iBookstore, adding several featured titles to the front page to make readers aware of them. Two publishers — DK Publishing (part of Penguin, which is ultimately part of Pearson) and Wilson Digital appear to have newly published textbooks in the Australian iBookstore today. Titles include Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life, My First ABC and Life on Earth. The textbooks appear to be examples of Apple’s new interactive textbook format, as they can range up to a gigabyte in size, containing multimedia features such as video. So far, there appears to be only a half-dozen such textbooks available in the Australian store.

The situation is the latest example of new technology or content being launched in the US by technology giants such as Apple and Google but not being available in Australia.

Apple’s Siri voice recognition system for the iPhone 4S, for example, couldn’t research local businesses, maps or traffic when it launched in October last year; Apple’s iTunes Cloud feature was only available to US residents when it launched in June, and it took Apple a substantial amount of time to add eBooks from major publishers to the Australian version of its iBookstore platform.
The availability of eBooks in Australia continues to lag behind that in the US, with locals being locked out of a number of titles available in the US version of the largest global eBooks platform, Amazon’s Kindle store. Google launched its eBooks platform locally in November, a year after it launched in the US, but also has substantially fewer books available in Australian than in the US.

The news of Apple’s textbook limitations comes despite the news that education departments and universities around Australia have been engaging in major trials of the iPad for more than a year. One of the most high-profile examples saw the University of Adelaide decree in September 2010 that all first-year science students would receive free iPads as an alternative to paper textbooks.

Image credit: 惟①刻¾, Creative Commons

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news The University of Technology, Sydney, has kicked off a hiring process for a newly created chief information officer position to help it with a substantial investment program associated with its campus located just outside the Sydney central business district.

According to a job advertisement posted online and first reported by CIO Magazine, the successful candidate will have remit to lead an IT operation supporting some 2,750 full-time equivalent staff, 30,500 student and some 200 dedicated IT staff.

“UTS seeks to appoint a Chief Information Officer (CIO) to influence and drive the achievement of the UTS mission and strategic objectives by providing leadership in the development and implementation of information technology strategy, architecture, infrastructure, services and solutions,” the advertisement reads.

“In this newly created position, the successful candidate will lead change by providing innovative leadership and clear direction. They will enhance IT capability, improve collaboration, support stakeholder objectives and develop a high performance team.”

UTS is not known to have previously had a chief information officer. However its IT operations are believed to have previously been spearheaded by its most high-profile corporate IT officer, Peter James, the university’s highly regarded director of IT infrastructure and operations.

James has been the public face of a number of IT-related UTS initiatives over the past half-decade, ranging from the university’s decision to out Cisco networking hardware from its roster and switch to kit from Alcatel, to its decision in late 2010 to sign up for Microsoft’s cloud-based email service Live@EDU for its student population. UTS staff and students had previously been using a platform based on Sun’s ONE email system, but staff were migrated onto Microsoft Exchange in 2009.

James’ LinkedIn profile lists him as still being in his role. Other senior IT staff at UTS include Chris Cahill, the university’s director of IT client services, and manager of application services, Kieran McPherson.

Image credit: Charlie Brewer, Creative Commons

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news The Coalition has heavily criticised the Federal Labor Government’s Computers in Schools program, claiming the project is behind schedule to the tune of hundreds of thousands of machines.

Last week the Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, said more than 713,000 computers had been installed under the program, which was kicked off following then-Labor leader Kevin Rudd’s victory in the 2007 election. The remainder of the machines were to be delivered throughout the current Christmas school holidays and would be “in time for the first day of the new school year”.

However, in a statement in response this week, Shadow Minister for Education Chris Pyne claimed the Labor Government had “gone quiet” on the project as it was “hundreds of thousands of computers behind schedule. “In 2007 Kevin Rudd waved a laptop at a press conference announcing that the ‘toolbox of the 21st century’ would be delivered to every student in Australia in years 9-12,” said Pyne. “Mr Rudd promised 1,000,000 computers at $1,000 each costing the government $1 billion to be fully delivered by December 2011.”

“Upon entering office, the Education Minister Julia Gillard immediately abandoned this goal. The Government surveyed existing computers in schools that were less than four years old and have since included them in their calculations. It was a con job and a broken promise, the first of many.” Even not taking into consideration the existing computers in schools, Pyne said that the Government was far from reaching the goal of one computer per child.

In October, the government did deliver more than half of the promised million computers. There has also been a cost overrun and the computers that were initially estimated to cost $1 billion have over shot the budget to reach $2.4 billion. Pyne said that this will have an impact on the taxes that Australians pay.

In August last year the Coalition came up with its own $120 million allocation for schools which focused on options for schools. At the time, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the fund differed from Labor’s project in that it would not simply say to schools “you will get computers — whether you like them or not”.

Pyne further challenged Garrett to resign from his post for non-delivery of the computers since he has been insisting all along that the deliveries were on schedule. In February this year, the Federal Government Auditor said that the Digital Education Revolution was on track to deliver one computer per child.

At the time Pyne had predicted that “If after three years they have delivered only a third of the computers, then it seems unlikely they will manage to install the remaining two thirds in less than one year.” He added this week: “In light of this new failure, it might be time for him to reconsider his position and put the national interest ahead of his own, since even the Prime Minister wants him to resign.”

Image credit: Harrison Keely, royalty free

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news For the first time, Apple has overtaken Acer and Dell in PC unit shipments in the Australia and New Zealand market to claim second position behind HP. This could be the effect of its retail store expansion and the launch of the Macbook Air Sandy Bridge refresh model.

The record, disclosed by analyst firm IDC in a statement this week, is interesting in a market where overall PC sales have dropped 8% quarter on quarter (QoQ) in Q3 2011 to 1.61 million units. But the market went up by 3% compared to Q3 2010, thanks to the heavy sales promotions by national retailers such as Harvey Norman who had a ‘Buy one get one free offer’ that strongly pushed sales. At the end of Q3 2011, according to IDC, HP leads with a market share of 22%, followed by Apple with 15%, Acer with 14%, Dell with 13% and Toshiba with 9%.

In Australia, the deteriorating European economy, concerns over the carbon tax implementation and short supply of AMD processers in the self-assembled PC market further added to the drop in sales this quarter. The Rugby World Cup that greatly boosted New Zealand’s economy and customer attitudes adversely impacted IT spending as funds were diverted to non-IT products.

Speaking about the performance of HP this quarter, IDC market analyst Amy Cheah said, “While most vendors’ performance slowed in Q3, HP, in particular, took the strongest hit. There were delays in government project rollouts while HP’s channels cut back in stock intake as a precautionary measure in view of market softness.” Cheah added, “The unfortunate ‘PSG spin off’ debacle also momentarily affected confidence in HP’s strategic outlook which opened a window of opportunity for competitors such as Apple to gain share.”

IDC analysts are expecting a growth of 10% next quarter with shipment numbers reaching 1.77 million units as year-end seasonal sales and education rollouts begin. Flooding in Thailand had caused an industry-wide shortage of hard disk drives (HDD). However this is not expected to impact Q4 sales since orders for Q4 were placed before the flooding incident. Large educational deals in Queensland and New South Wales are expected to lead the growth in Q4. However the impact of the HDD shortage is expected to be felt in the first quarter of next year.

Cheah also said that the effect of the shortage in HDD supply will impact end users as vendors will skip promotions and focus on premium products leading to an increase in price of end products. “Industry leaders with the economies of scale advantage and flexibility to manage allocation may see competitive opportunities arise out of this situation,” said Cheah.

Image credit: Apple

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news New South Wales’s state government auditor-general revealed yesterday that a massive SAP-based project to replace finance, HR, payroll and student administration systems across the public education sector had gone off the rails.

The project, known as the Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) program was initially kicked off in 2006 and aimed to replace the systems at schools, TAFE institutions and the Department of Education and Communities’ head and branch offices throughout the succeeding seven years through to the middle of 2013.

However, in an audit report published yesterday (PDF), NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat noted that the project had been delayed, had gone over budget, and had not provided all of the expected benefits to the department in some places where it had been implemented.

The finance aspect of the systems overhaul was slated to hit the department (including schools and TAFEs) from November 2009 through the end of 2010. However, in every instance it was delayed, and the deployment to schools had been prepared, but not carried out yet. The HR and payroll aspects of the project had similarly not been deployed, despite the fact that it was slated to be in place by mid-2011, and the student administration system overhaul was also delayed.

“In 2011, the department reviewed the status of the project to ensure it was a solution that met current and future business requirements,” the auditor’s report stated. “As a result, the implementation dates for the majority of components were realigned to provide an integrated solution for the department.” The Australian has reported that consortiums led by Accenture and IBM are vying to build that integrated solution.

Where the project had been implemented, the process had not gone that well.

“The finance system did not fully meet the department’s needs and users had to build some manual workarounds, which resulted in lost time and additional effort and costs not included in the original business case,” the report stated.

“System users had some difficulty obtaining accurate and/or relevant and timely information; the Shared Services Centre did not have the required skills, resources and knowledge to fully support the system; system users did not have sufficient knowledge of the new system and its functionality.”

As a result, the cost of the first phase of the project had jumped from $153 million to $210 million, although the estimated cost of the second phase had actually dropped — from $218 million to $176 million. A further $14.4 million has also been allocated by the NSW Treasury to fund additional staff and training. “This reflects the decision to deliver an integrated solution across the Department rather than separate implementations for finance, human resources and student administration and learning management,” the report noted.

In a separate statement (PDF), Achterstraat noted he was concerned that “another large government IT project is failing to deliver, is over budget and is behind schedule”.

opinion/analysis
With virtually every major IT project of any kind in the Victorian and Queensland State Governments going off the rails within the past half-decade, it is hardly a surprise to find that similar problems are being experienced in New South Wales. In fact, I would count it a surprise to find a major IT project in any state government at the moment which was 100 percent on track and on budget; now that would be worth writing about.

However, leadership around this issue has started to arise, as Australia’s IT community starts to deal with the long-term fallout of such dysfunctional government IT projects. Last week we looked at some of the things Victoria shouldn’t do in order to pull itself out of the IT governance hole it’s currently in; we’re currently working on an article looking at what it could do. Some of these lessons will apply to the NSW and Queensland Governments as well; stay tuned for its publication shortly.

Image credit: Natalie Singh, royalty free

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blog Oh dear. Chalk this one up to a bit of Microsoft mid-October marketing madness.

The big M has started advertising for full-time students at Australian universities to spruik its products for it on campuses all around Australia. It doesn’t look like the students will get paid for telling their friends about how great Microsoft is, but they’ll get a free Windows 7 PC, Xbox 360 and Samsung Windows 7 phone, among other goodies.

The nauseating ads Microsoft has posted on Seek, supported by “ideation and project management agency” the Spaceship, calls for “top minds from around Australia” to help their fellow students “understand how relevant Microsoft software and devices can be to them”. The recruited students will support “university marketing activities” such as orientation and open days “in high traffic areas across campus”. And they’ll file weekly reports on their activities.

Now, to be honest, at Delimiter we are actually quite big fans of Microsoft. The company’s current batch of enterprise products are becoming extremely dominant (and rightly so, given their quality), Windows Phone 7 Mango is great, we run our working day on Windows 7 and Office, and our nights are currently dominated by Gears of War 3 on our Xbox 360. When we speak to chief information officers these days, its clear that Microsoft is no longer the big bad company it used to be in the past. It’s a more relaxed, more helpful and better company these days, and focused strongly on customers.

However … the idea that when we were at uni, our friends would be constantly spruiking Microsoft products to us as “visionaries” and “ambassadors” for Microsoft is puke-inducing. If you think we’re exaggerating, click here and read the ad for yourself. Yuck.

We can only hope that a bunch of guerrilla Linux fans and grumpy computer science coders spoil the fun for the “Microsoft Windows U Crew” by blanketing the entire thing in penguin merchandise. Linus would be proud.

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The Tasmanian Government has finalised a solution to a contractual impasse which has seen a number of schools in early stage National Broadband Network rollout zones in the state unable to utilise the infrastructure, despite the fibre having been physically connected to their premises.

In mid-June, the Tasmanian Opposition revealed that almost a year after the National Broadband Network was officially switched on in Tasmania, no public school in the early stage release towns of Scottsdale, Midway Point and Smithton had actually been connected to the next-generation fibre Internet the project is providing.

The delay appears to be due to the fact that Internet service to schools is provided through the state whole of government Networking Tasmania contract, which is held by Telstra and is currently being tested in the market. Like other providers, Telstra is currently trialling NBN services in Tasmania.

The lack of NBN connectivity came despite the fact that the Federal Government, in addition to the Tasmanian State Government, have repetitively touted the ability to bring high-speed broadband to schools as a benefit of the NBN, holding demonstrations of the fibre-optic technology in schools in both Tasmania and other early stage release sites such as Armidale over the past year.

Today, Tasmanian Education Minister Nick McKim revealed that state-owned utility and telecommunications service provider Aurora had ridden to the schools’ rescue.

“Within the next six weeks, NBN services will be available to Government schools and polytechnic campuses in Smithton and Scottsdale,” McKim said in a statement, noting that in the longer term, NBN services to other schools will be delivered across the State as the NBN is rolled out.

Aurora will bundle other services as part of its package – such as content filtering of inappropriate material, virus protection and support for department business applications and internal Government systems.

It appears that the Tasmanian Government will attempt to link access to the NBN with a separate initiative funded by the Federal Government and dubbed the Connected – Any Student, Any School (CASAS) project, which comes under the Digital Regions policy. The project, which is being run jointly by the Tasmanian Government as well as Catholic and independent schools, would over time see all Tasmanian schools provided with “cutting edge technologies to take full advantage of the NBN”, according to McKim.

“This exciting project will enable Tasmanian schools across the State to use technologies to offer innovative personalised learning opportunities using practical, hands-on and local, national and global e-learning programs,” he said today. “Further, it will enable all schools and the three organisations the opportunity to share expertise and teaching and training resources across all of Tasmania.”

In terms of the project, McKim said the first phase of the initiative would focus on the setup and provision of “a virtual data centre that features aggregated data from the three education jurisdictions”

“Under the second phase, the Department of Education will utilise the systems and services as part of the new eSchool which will provide online learning opportunities across Tasmanian schools,” he added. “This will include services to rural and remote students who can’t attend a traditional educational facility.”

The third phase, according to the Minister, would cater for increased service delivery across the Kindergarten to Year 12 and Polytechnic areas, allowing for “delivery of post-year 10 curriculum in rural and remote centres which is not currently available and where students currently have to travel and live in major regional centres to continue their education.” Education services to the wider Tasmanian community over the NBN will also be targeted.

Image credit: NBN Co

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1. You’ll get the NBN: Conroy promises Tassie schools
2. NBN: Is Conroy telling ‘porkies’ on Tassie schools?
3. One year later: TASSIE SCHOOLS NOT ON THE NBN